Toronto is 175!

In honour of the City’s 175th anniversary, the City of Toronto is hosting the Toronto SongContest. We’re looking for an original song that is evocative of our wonderful city, a song that will pay homage to Toronto’s amazing spirit and its unparalleled diversity.

How to enter

The contest officially opens on Monday, March 30, 2009 and submissions will be accepted until 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, May 10, 2009.The contest is open to any Canadian resident 13 years of age or older.

Compose your song using any lyrical music genre, e.g., pop, rock, folk, roots, hip hop, rap, jazz, world. Songs must be less than four minutes in length. You must submit your song in MP3 format, the lyrics to your song and a short biography (200 words or less) to Sonicbids – the official website of the Toronto Song Contest.

Winners and prizes

Judges selected by the City will evaluate all of the song submissions and will select up to 10 finalists and the winner of the contest from among those finalists. The process for announcing and promoting both the finalists and the contest winner will be determined at a later date. Judges will base their evaluation of the songs on the following criteria

* Creativity * Originality * Lyrics * Melody * Arrangement

The winner will receive a prize of $5,000 Canadian, payable by cheque, and will retain all rights to any SOCAN royalties payable for the use of the song.